Delivery management system: Improving the client’s NPS by 28% with efficiency-driving features
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Project overview
It’s easy to get delivery management wrong. It can involve inefficient route planning, loading, or employee and fleet management — or poor real-time tracking and communication. Overreliance on manual processes increases the risk of costly errors, too.
The result? Unexpected delays, damaged shipments, cost overruns, missed savings opportunities — and subpar customer experience.
Our client, a veteran U.S. logistics and transportation company, has experienced these challenges first-hand when providing trucking, warehousing, and international delivery services.
Its leadership realized that a delivery management system would solve most, if not all, of its problems. However, none of the existing off-the-shelf solutions fit the company’s needs. As its business grew rapidly, relying on manual workflows was no longer an option.
So, the company set out to build a custom web application for managing deliveries for its fleet of trucks. It would bring together all the essential features, from route scheduling and optimization to real-time delivery status tracking.
However, the company needed an expert in responsive, cloud-native, data-heavy web development to ensure the delivery management system offers tangible value across the organization. That’s where we came in.
Services
Challenges
The delivery management system had to fit the company’s unique workflows to enhance operational efficiency and customer experience. Otherwise, our client wouldn’t have been able to secure a competitive advantage while maximizing the solution’s ROI.
To help our client attain these goals, we had to ensure that the web-based delivery management system fit the company’s processes like a glove. So, an exhaustive discovery phase was a must for a perfect grasp of our client’s processes and needs.
Our main challenge was taking a deep dive into the company’s operations and translating our findings into a powerful, value-adding delivery management system.
In addition, the web application would have to process vast volumes of data in real time to enable shipment tracking and delivery time predictions. At the same time, the system’s architecture and codebase had to be optimized for cloud deployment, performance, scalability, and 99% availability.
Our extensive discovery phase outlined the project’s technical requirements and the client’s business needs:
Strategic business needs
01 Replace manual delivery management workflows with a custom system adapted to the company’s business processes
02 Improve the NPS by at least 10% within the first year after the system’s deployment
03 Reduce delivery management errors by at least 30% by automating tasks with the new system
04 Increase operational efficiency by at least 10% within the first year
05 Decrease shipping time by at least 5% with streamlined route scheduling and optimization
06 Reduce transportation costs by at least 5% thanks to efficiency gains, error mitigation, and route and loading optimization
Technical requirements
01 Conduct thorough research on the client’s business processes to ensure the solution’s perfect fit to its operations
02 Design a cloud-ready system architecture optimized for performance, scalability, real-time data streaming, and cost-efficiency
03 Optimize the user interface for mobile devices and tablets
04 Develop the delivery management system with real-time shipment tracking, route and delivery management, and invoice and report generation capabilities
05 Develop separate portals for the company’s delivery managers, drivers, and customers
06 Implement a built-in messenger to enable communication between drivers and dispatchers
07 Reach an application performance index (Apdex) score of at least 80 under various request rates
08 Limit the system’s error rates to 10% under various request rates
09 Ensure the application availability of at least 99% with cloud deployment
10 Minimize the running costs of cloud computing with cloud-native code and reduced data egress
11 Ensure a 95% accuracy in predicting delivery time
Our experts can help you achieve operational excellence and sharpen your competitive edge with a custom internal system adapted to your workflows.
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Solutions
We began our collaboration with the client by exploring the company’s operations. Based on our findings, we identified the most suitable tech stack and implementation approach for the delivery management system’s capabilities.
To build a flexible, cloud-native web application, we opted for React for developing the system’s interface and Node.js for building its backend.
React allowed us to build a fast interface with minimum latency and response time for real-time data refreshment. Thanks to React’s robust responsive capabilities, the interface looks aesthetically pleasing and behaves as intended across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices.
Node.js, in turn, ensured the application’s backend enabled the interface’s high speed and performance. We also leveraged the framework’s capabilities to implement advanced error handling, limiting the application error rate to 5%.
Our modular architecture and cloud deployment allowed the application to achieve 99.5% availability and a 91 application performance index score. Our cloud-native development approach, in turn, minimized running cloud storage and computing costs for our client.
The delivery management system consisted of three main components with the following capabilities:
- Logistics manager portal: Real-time shipment tracking, order and route management, delivery time predictions, delivery planning, fleet management, invoice and report generation, built-in messenger, signup, and account management
- Customer portal: Shipment order placement, payment and invoice management, real-time delivery tracking, signup, profile management
- Driver portal: Current and assigned route overview, shipment status management for real-time tracking, built-in messaging for issue reporting, replacement and day off requests
Real-time shipment tracking
With the delivery management system, both the company’s logistics managers and customers can monitor every shipment’s location and status in real time. Employees can view all deliveries in a single view on the Ongoing Routes page. Drivers, in turn, can easily update the status of their deliveries via their portal.
Our 98.5% accurate ETA calculation helps employees manage routes and drivers more effectively and improve customer experience.
The Ongoing Routes dashboard allows the company to respond quickly to issues arising during deliveries and optimize route planning based on the ETA. In combination with other features, real-time delivery tracking with accurate ETA forecasts helped the company reduce delivery time by 11%.
Order and route management
The delivery management system allows our client’s employees to manage all orders, schedule routes, and assign deliveries to drivers within a single system. The route scheduler provides a comprehensive overview of available drivers and vehicles. The order management capabilities, in turn, facilitate matching the right order to the right driver and vehicle.
Drivers, in turn, can easily review their current and upcoming deliveries, along with the delivery time estimates, via their dedicated portal on their devices.
Thanks to real-time updates and accurate delivery time predictions, dispatchers can easily avoid double-booking, delays, and unnecessary downtime. The ensemble of these features was the core driver behind the 17% operational efficiency gains and 11% delivery speed increase. Optimized operations, in turn, helped our client decrease transportation costs by 9%.
Order placement, management, and payment
Via the system’s customer portal, our client’s customers can place an order by filling out a simple order form with comprehensive validation rules. The form lets them choose delivery requirements from a pre-determined list or add custom ones.
The customer portal’s order management features allow customers to select and change drivers or the transport itself without having to contact an employee directly. The delivery date and location can also be changed right within the app. Once the customer receives an automatically generated invoice, they can proceed to pay the specified total without leaving the system.
The streamlined order placement and management features, combined with real-time delivery tracking and operational efficiency gains, helped our client improve its NPS score by 28%.
Report and invoice generation
Based on the data entered into the order form, the delivery management system automatically generates the invoice and makes it available to the customer via their account. The invoice, available as a PDF file, contains all the crucial information, such as the list of services, delivery location and date, and total due.
The company’s employees can also generate template-based and custom reports on executed orders, delivery times, and more. These PDF files are ready within seconds, quickly providing business stakeholders with crucial, up-to-date operational information to guide decision-making.
Thanks to the end-to-end automation of these processes, our client saw a 55% reduction in errors in invoices and reports. These errors were typically caused by manual data entry before the system’s implementation.
Fleet management
The company’s employees can create driver and transport profiles and easily assign deliveries to the transport and driver who best match the order. Each driver’s performance and workload can be easily assessed using metrics such as the number of trips, delivery times, incident rates, and customer complaints.
At the same time, drivers can use the system to easily submit replacement requests and ask for days off.
Streamlined fleet management drove the increase in the company’s operational efficiency and delivery speed gains, resulting in lower transportation costs.
Built-in messaging
Thanks to our integrated messenger, the company’s dispatchers and drivers can communicate with each other without leaving the application. The messenger supports file attachments and has quick message templates so that drivers can quickly signal they need fuel or maintenance. What’s more, the messenger includes a search bar, allowing users to easily find the contact they need.
The company's incident response and resolution processes became faster thanks to instant messaging, which is convenient on any device. The decrease in unplanned downtime contributed to our client’s 17% operational efficiency uplift and 9% delivery cost savings.
Fully responsive interface
During our discovery phase, it quickly became clear that drivers would use the application on smartphones or tablets. Our client’s customers were likely to switch between devices and platforms as they placed and managed orders. Employees, in turn, would primarily use the solution’s desktop version.
We leveraged React’s component-based architecture and advanced customization capabilities to ensure the system’s smooth functioning across devices. We also adapted the application’s frontend and backend to varying available bandwidths and CPU/GPU capacities.
Thanks to our performance and layout optimizations, the delivery management system is fast and convenient to use on any device, regardless of the screen size. The application’s responsiveness was among the most frequently cited advantages of the system cited by all user categories.
Cloud-native, modular architecture
Our client needed the application to process large amounts of real-time data and remain easy to update to adapt it to the company’s rapid growth. To meet both of those needs, we designed and implemented a modular cloud-native architecture for the solution, using Docker to deploy and run it using lightweight, portable containers.
Thanks to our cloud-native approach to the solution, the web application supported robust CI/CD automations to facilitate updates. We also minimized cloud storage and computing costs by right-sizing instances, making containers as lightweight as possible, and implementing autoscaling.
Tech stack
Impact
Our cloud-native, fast, convenient delivery management system perfectly adapted to the client’s operations produced a substantial return on investment in the form of:
Our modular cloud-ready solutions combine high performance and scalability with advanced cost-efficiency, even in data-heavy cases.
Contact usTestimonials
The responsiveness, attention to detail and high-level communication from Darly Solutions was outstanding. Communication with the team was all online and was absolutely seamless. They were highly responsive, worked to tight deadlines and provided great feedback and communication throughout the entire project to ensure it remained on schedule and all quality requirements were being met. They exceeded all of our expectations, from design through to delivery.
LLC Darly Solutions's team performs well since the collaboration started. They are fluent in specific programming languages, they are also fluent in English, and they have a great response time. What is most unique and impressive about Darly Solutions is that everyone in the team is inherently communicative and understands the expertise of their respective fields. The team is very agile and can predict stress situations in which we work together to fix and maintain.
Darly Solutions' work so far inspires confidence, as they're skilled and trustworthy. The health platform is incredibly happy with their work. The team at Darly is communicative, responsive, and responsible. I’d recommend them to people looking to do more than build a simple little software.
By collaborating with Darly Solutions, there is a significant improvement in the project's quality of codes compared to their original codebase. They lead efficient project management and keep the client updated with their reports. They're a flexible team that delivers promising results. They don't just do as they're told, they actively participate in the design process, which is going to yield us a much better platform in the end.
Darly Solutions was able to develop the site with all functions running. The team was responsive throughout the engagement. They excelled at scheduling and delivered projects on the specified timeline. The whole team was a pleasure to work with. I am very glad that I entrusted them with my project, this is the best company for me!
The quality of their work is very high, and we get very good customer feedback on what our site looks like. They're very reliable and have a great overview of the technologies they're using. They meet our deadlines and are very accurate with their time estimations on a project. In addition, they're responsive and great with communication with a great command of English — it's very easy to talk to them. Moreover, we've integrated them into our development and scrum process, where we have daily stand-ups with their project manager and developers through Slack.
LLC Darly Solutions are highly skilled at UI/UX and follow very good engineering standards, and have been very professional in its approach to all the work to date (including the initial consultancy, which was the deciding factor). They have taken ownership of the work in way that demonstrates how much they value the work they are doing and consequently the work we are doing. I am gaining confidence that the decisions they make are good decisions and that this will result in a product that will exceed our initial expectations.
Darly Solutions developed the app in a quick manner, and the code quality was excellent. The professional team was committed to building a successful product. The code quality was good, and the app has been built in a little more than 1 month, which is a result I'm very happy with. They were laid back but professional at the same time.
Darly Solutions’ work helped my business tremendously. They were able to identify key areas for growth and improvement. The team was communicative and professional throughout the entire engagement. LLC Darly Solutions is a solutions-oriented vendor that drives results. They’re really professional and they know what they’re doing. The team knows how to identify my problems and solve them.
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